How Email Forwarding Works: The Complete Guide to Forward Email's Service

Foreword

In today's digital landscape, email privacy has become more critical than ever. With data breaches, surveillance concerns, and targeted advertising based on email content, users are increasingly seeking solutions that prioritize their privacy. At Forward Email, we've built our service from the ground up with privacy as the cornerstone of our architecture. This blog post explores the technical implementations that make our service one of the most privacy-focused email forwarding solutions available.

The Forward Email Privacy Philosophy

Before diving into the technical details, it's important to understand our fundamental privacy philosophy: your emails belong to you and only you. This principle guides every technical decision we make, from how we handle email forwarding to how we implement encryption.

Unlike many email providers who scan your messages for advertising purposes or store them indefinitely on their servers, Forward Email operates with a radically different approach:

1. In-memory processing only - We don't store your forwarded emails to disk
2. No metadata storage - We don't keep records of who's emailing whom
3. 100% open-source - Our entire codebase is transparent and auditable
4. End-to-end encryption - We support OpenPGP for truly private communications

SQLite Implementation: Durability and Portability for Your Data

One of the most significant privacy advantages of Forward Email is our carefully engineered SQLite implementation. We've fine-tuned SQLite with specific PRAGMA settings and Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) to ensure both durability and portability of your data, while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and security.

Here's a look at how we've implemented SQLite with ChaCha20-Poly1305 as the cipher for quantum-safe encryption:

// Initialize the database with better-sqlite3-multiple-ciphers
const Database = require('better-sqlite3-multiple-ciphers');

// Set up encryption with ChaCha20-Poly1305 cipher
db.pragma(`key="${decrypt(session.user.password)}"`);

// Enable Write-Ahead Logging for durability and performance
db.pragma('journal_mode=WAL');

// Overwrite deleted content with zeros for privacy
db.pragma('secure_delete=ON');

// Enable auto vacuum for efficient storage management
db.pragma('auto_vacuum=FULL');

// Set busy timeout for handling concurrent access
db.pragma(`busy_timeout=${config.busyTimeout}`);

// Optimize synchronization for reliability
db.pragma('synchronous=NORMAL');

// Enable foreign key constraints for data integrity
db.pragma('foreign_keys=ON');

// Set UTF-8 encoding for international character support
db.pragma(`encoding='UTF-8'`);

// Optimize database performance
db.pragma('optimize=0x10002;');

// Use disk for temporary storage instead of memory
db.pragma('temp_store=1;');

This implementation ensures that your data is not only secure but also portable. You can take your email and go at any time by exporting in MBOX, EML, or SQLite formats. And when you want to delete your data, it's truly gone – we simply delete the files from disk storage rather than running SQL DELETE ROW commands, which can leave traces in the database.

The quantum-encryption aspect of our implementation uses ChaCha20-Poly1305 as the cipher when we initialize the database, providing strong protection against both current and future threats to your data privacy.

Smart Queue and Retry Mechanism: Ensuring Email Delivery

Instead of focusing solely on header handling, we've implemented a sophisticated smart queue and retry mechanism with our getBounceInfo method. This system ensures that your emails have the best chance of being delivered, even when temporary issues arise.

function getBounceInfo(err) {
  // Initialize bounce info with default values
  const bounceInfo = {
    action: err.responseCode >= 500 ? 'reject' : 'defer',
    category: err.category || 'other',
    message: err.message,
    code: err.responseCode || err.code
  };

  // Analyze error response to determine appropriate action
  const response = err.response || err.message || '';

  // Determine if the issue is temporary or permanent
  if (response.includes('temporarily deferred') ||
      response.includes('try again later')) {
    bounceInfo.action = 'defer';
  }

  // Categorize the bounce reason for appropriate handling
  if (response.includes('mailbox full')) {
    bounceInfo.category = 'full';
    bounceInfo.action = 'defer';
  } else if (response.includes('user unknown')) {
    bounceInfo.category = 'unknown';
  }

  return bounceInfo;
}

We retry mail delivery for 5 days, similar to industry standards like Postfix, giving temporary issues time to resolve themselves. This approach significantly improves delivery rates while maintaining privacy.

On a similar note, we also redact the message content of outbound SMTP emails after successful delivery. This is configured in our storage system with a default retention period of 30 days, which you can adjust in your domain's Advanced Settings. After this period, the email content is automatically redacted and purged, with only a placeholder message remaining:

This message was successfully sent. It has been redacted and purged for your security and privacy. If you would like to increase your message retention time, please go to the Advanced Settings page for your domain.

This approach ensures that your sent emails don't remain stored indefinitely, reducing the risk of data breaches or unauthorized access to your communications.

Unlimited Resources with Intelligent Rate Limiting

While Forward Email offers unlimited domains and aliases, we've implemented intelligent rate limiting to protect our system from abuse and ensure fair usage for all users. For example, non-enterprise customers can create up to 50+ aliases per day, which prevents our database from being spammed and flooded, and allows our real-time abuse and protection features to function effectively.

// Rate limiter implementation
const rateLimiter = new RateLimiter({
  // Configuration settings
});

// Check rate limits before processing
const limit = await rateLimiter.get({
  key: `domain:${domain.id}`,
  duration: ms('1d')
});

// Apply appropriate action based on limit status
if (limit.remaining <= 0) {
  // Handle rate limit exceeded
}

This balanced approach provides you with the flexibility to create as many email addresses as you need for comprehensive privacy management, while still maintaining the integrity and performance of our service for all users.

Sandboxed Encryption for Enhanced Security

Our unique sandboxed encryption approach provides a critical security advantage that many users overlook when choosing an email service. Let's explore why sandboxing data, especially email, is so important.

Services like Gmail and Proton most likely use shared relational databases, which creates a fundamental security vulnerability. In a shared database environment, if someone gains access to one user's data, they potentially have a pathway to access other users' data as well. This is because all user data resides in the same database tables, separated only by user IDs or similar identifiers.

Forward Email takes a fundamentally different approach with our sandboxed encryption:

1. Complete isolation: Each user's data is stored in its own encrypted SQLite database file, completely isolated from other users
2. Independent encryption keys: Each database is encrypted with its own unique key derived from the user's password
3. No shared storage: Unlike relational databases where all users' emails might be in a single "emails" table, our approach ensures no commingling of data
4. Defense in depth: Even if one user's database were somehow compromised, it would not provide access to any other user's data

This sandboxed approach is similar to having your email in a separate physical vault rather than in a shared storage facility with internal dividers. It's a fundamental architectural difference that significantly enhances your privacy and security.

In-Memory Email Processing: No Disk Storage for Maximum Privacy

For our email forwarding service, we process emails entirely in RAM and never write them to disk storage or databases. This approach provides unparalleled protection against email surveillance and metadata collection.

Here's a simplified look at how our email processing works:

async function onData(stream, _session, fn) {
  // Store clone of session since it gets modified/destroyed
  const session = JSON.parse(safeStringify(_session));

  try {
    // Process the email stream in memory
    const messageSplitter = new MessageSplitter({
      maxBytes: MAX_BYTES
    });
    stream.pipe(messageSplitter);
    const body = await getStream.buffer(messageSplitter);

    const { headers } = messageSplitter;

    // Update session object with useful debug info for error logs
    await updateSession.call(this, body, headers, session);

    // Process the email without storing to disk
    // [Processing code omitted for brevity]

    // Return success without persisting email data
    fn();
  } catch (err) {
    // Handle errors without storing sensitive information
    fn(err);
  }
}

This approach means that even if our servers were compromised, there would be no historical email data for attackers to access. Your emails simply pass through our system and are immediately forwarded to their destination without leaving a trace. This no-logging email forwarding approach is fundamental to protecting your communications from surveillance.

End-to-End Encryption with OpenPGP for Complete Privacy

For users who require the highest level of privacy protection from email surveillance, we support OpenPGP for end-to-end encryption. Unlike many email providers that require proprietary bridges or apps, our implementation works with standard email clients, making secure communication accessible to everyone.

Here's how we implement OpenPGP encryption:

async function encryptMessage(pubKeyArmored, raw, isArmored = true) {
  // [Initial validation code omitted for brevity]

  // Read the public key
  const pubKey = isArmored
    ? await openpgp.readKey({
        armoredKey: tools.prepareArmoredPubKey(pubKeyArmored),
        config: { tolerant: true }
      })
    : pubKeyArmored;

  if (!pubKey) throw new TypeError('Public key does not exist');

  // Perform the actual encryption using OpenPGP
  const ciphertext = await openpgp.encrypt({
    message: await openpgp.createMessage({
      binary: Buffer.concat([Buffer.from(bodyHeaders + '\r\n\r\n'), body])
    }),
    encryptionKeys: pubKey,
    format: 'armored',
    config: { minRSABits: 1024 }
  });

  // Format the encrypted message as a proper MIME message
  // [MIME formatting code omitted for brevity]

  return Buffer.concat([headers, breaker, Buffer.from(text)]);
}

This implementation ensures that your emails are encrypted before they leave your device and can only be decrypted by the intended recipient, keeping your communications private even from us. This is essential for protecting sensitive communications from unauthorized access and surveillance.

Multi-Layered Content Protection for Comprehensive Security

Forward Email offers multiple layers of content protection that are enabled by default to provide comprehensive security against various threats:

1. Adult content protection - Filters out inappropriate content without compromising privacy
2. Phishing protection - Blocks attempts to steal your information while preserving anonymity
3. Executable protection - Prevents potentially harmful attachments without scanning content
4. Virus protection - Scans for malware using privacy-preserving techniques

Unlike many providers who make these features opt-in, we've made them opt-out, ensuring that all users benefit from these protections by default. This approach reflects our commitment to both privacy and security, providing a balance that many email services fail to achieve.

How We Differ from Other Email Services: The Technical Privacy Advantage

When comparing Forward Email to other email services, several key technical differences highlight our privacy-first approach:

Open Source Transparency for Verifiable Privacy

While many email providers claim to be open source, they often keep their backend code closed. Forward Email is 100% open source, including both frontend and backend code. This transparency allows for independent security auditing of all components, ensuring that our privacy claims can be verified by anyone.

No Vendor Lock-In for Privacy Without Compromise

Many privacy-focused email providers require you to use their proprietary apps or bridges. Forward Email works with any standard email client through IMAP, POP3, and SMTP protocols, giving you the freedom to choose your preferred email software without compromising on privacy.

Sandboxed Data for True Isolation

Unlike services that use shared databases where all users' data is commingled, our sandboxed approach ensures that each user's data is completely isolated. This fundamental architectural difference provides significantly stronger privacy guarantees than what most email services offer.

Data Portability and Control

We believe that your data belongs to you, which is why we make it easy to export your emails in standard formats (MBOX, EML, SQLite) and truly delete your data when you want to. This level of control is rare among email providers but essential for true privacy.

The Technical Challenges of Privacy-First Email Forwarding

Building a privacy-first email service comes with significant technical challenges. Here are some of the obstacles we've overcome:

Memory Management for No-Logging Email Processing

Processing emails in-memory without disk storage requires careful memory management to handle high volumes of email traffic efficiently. We've implemented advanced memory optimization techniques to ensure reliable performance without compromising on our no-storage policy, a critical component of our privacy protection strategy.

Spam Detection Without Content Analysis for Privacy-Preserving Filtering

Most spam detection systems rely on analyzing email content, which conflicts with our privacy principles. We've developed techniques to identify spam patterns without reading the content of your emails, striking a balance between privacy and usability that preserves the confidentiality of your communications.

Maintaining Compatibility with Privacy-First Design

Ensuring compatibility with all email clients while implementing advanced privacy features has required creative engineering solutions. Our team has worked tirelessly to make privacy seamless, so you don't have to choose between convenience and security when protecting your email communications.

Privacy Best Practices for Forward Email Users

To maximize your protection against email surveillance and maximize your privacy when using Forward Email, we recommend the following best practices:

1. Use unique aliases for different services - Create a different email alias for each service you sign up for to prevent cross-service tracking
2. Enable OpenPGP encryption - For sensitive communications, use end-to-end encryption to ensure complete privacy
3. Regularly rotate your email aliases - Periodically update aliases for important services to minimize long-term data collection
4. Use strong, unique passwords - Protect your Forward Email account with a strong password to prevent unauthorized access
5. Implement IP address anonymization - Consider using a VPN in conjunction with Forward Email for complete anonymity

Conclusion: The Future of Private Email Forwarding

At Forward Email, we believe that privacy isn't just a feature—it's a fundamental right. Our technical implementations reflect this belief, providing you with email forwarding that respects your privacy at every level and protects you from email surveillance and metadata collection.

As we continue to develop and improve our service, our commitment to privacy remains unwavering. We're constantly researching new encryption methods, exploring additional privacy protections, and refining our codebase to provide the most secure email experience possible.

By choosing Forward Email, you're not just selecting an email service—you're supporting a vision of the internet where privacy is the default, not the exception. Join us in building a more private digital future, one email at a time.